


The Wonders of Thedas

by LeightAiden777



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Adventure, Crossover, Eventual Romance, Fantasy, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-25
Updated: 2017-06-24
Packaged: 2018-09-19 20:44:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9459770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeightAiden777/pseuds/LeightAiden777
Summary: Waking up in another world is one thing but waking up as the only one who can save another world? Yeah, he should totally have seen that coming.Warning: Slash (Yaoi, Boy X Boy…), MoD! Strong! OOC! Harry, Harry-In-Thedas





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Title: The Wonders of Thedas  
> Crossover: Dragon Age and Harry Potter  
> Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Romance  
> Pairing: Dorian Pavus X Harry Potter  
> Summary: Waking up in another world is one thing but waking up as the only one who can save another world? Yeah, he should totally have seen that coming.  
> Warning: Slash (Yaoi, Boy X Boy…), MoD! Strong! OOC! Harry, Harry-In-Thedas
> 
> To those familiar with Dragon Age I hope you will like this new fiction of mine and constructive criticism would be highly appreciated. Take what I write here for a grain of salt though, in terms of following canon and the history of Thedas. As you will see, there might be discrepancies in the history of Thedas but it's all intentional since the theory applied here is that there are many different worlds out there and Thedas is only one of many. Harry on the other hand is the Master of Death, technically ruling over each and every one of them but mostly dealing with the dead and souls. He does not care much for the different histories of each world since there are so much of them and with time he has come to be quite indifferent to them since all those souls, whatever world they are from, would all end up in the Underworld anyway. Down there there is no need to differentiate anyone or anything. Everything will just follow this guideline. I will follow mostly Inquisition but not Trespasser and what comes after Corypheus will go into AU territory. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One Harry Potter wakes up in a mortal world with a creepy mark on his hand and a hole in the sky. Yeah, a bloody hole in the sky.

**Prologue**

He woke up with a splitting headache, a stinging hand and weirdly-dressed people pointing swords at him. He was lying in a heap in what appeared to be a dungeon, which was strange in itself since the last thing he remembered was sneaking from his office to get away from the dreaded paperwork that came along with being the Master of Death. Maybe Death had found him and decided to be an ass again and shove into the dungeons. However, Harry highly doubted it. For one, the dungeons back in his castle in the Underworld radiated powerful magic since it was used to keep those who were being punished for centuries for heinous crimes they had committed in their lives. There was that and also the fact that no _mortal human_ ever guarded the dungeons.

So the question would be, where the hell had he ended up this time? This was definitely not the Underworld.

Lost in thought, he did not see one of the men leaving the dungeons but he did notice when they manhandled him out of his cell to kneel in the middle of the room. Harry cocked an eyebrow at them but went along willingly, humouring them; they might tell him where he was if he did what they wanted. Unlike anybody else in his place, he was not overly worried; he knew that nothing could actually kill him and even if something _did_ manage to kill him (not that it was likely, what with him being the Master of Death and all), he would just end up back home in the Underworld anyway.

"Not that I don't mind your hospitality," he drawled as he rolled his uncomfortably aching shoulder, mindful of the heavy shackles binding his hands together. "But would you mind telling me where I am?" After a moment during which they armoured men only stared back at him in silence, though he did notice that young one shifting uneasily as Harry's eyes locked onto his form, he sighed. "Or not."

With nothing better to do, he extended his senses outwards, his magic spreading thinly around him to take in any useful information he might find of this place. The first thing he noticed was that there were actual living people in this place, aside from the men guarding him. So this ruled out the Underworld as a likely place for him to be, though he had suspected as much from the moment he had woken up. The next thing he noticed made him recoil; there was something big, hanging somewhere over their heads, and the magic outpour was massive, dangerously so. The world was literally unraveling out there! Sure, it would take some time, but anyone living in this place would not last long. They would most likely end up residents of the Underworld soon, very soon in fact.

A sudden stinging pain in his left hand rudely snapped his attention back in the dungeons. With an incredulous look in his eyes, he stared down at the green, glowing… thing spreading across his palm. Now, what was _that_!? Oh, he had encountered many different types of magic in his centuries of existence, his first ones being from his own original world before he had refused to take up his role as Master of Death but ultimately ended up as it anyway. This though was not something he had seen before. Admittedly, he had locked himself away from any other world after his introduction to the Underworld, so there were still many things he in fact did not know. Whatever this was though was powerful, this much he could tell, and it reeked of the same magic as what was swallowing the world out there.

The door in front of him banged open, snapping him out of his thoughts and two women, one in armour and the other wearing a long robe with a hood, entered. He could not help but stare as the first woman strode towards him predatorily, circling him like vulture, even as the other woman stayed back.

"Tell me why we shouldn't kill you now," the armoured woman growled as Harry tried to follow her with his eyes. "The Conclave is destroyed. Everyone who attended is dead, except for you."

Harry stayed silent, waiting to see if she was going to say anything else. He was completely lost; he had no idea what was going on or even how he had ended up in that situation in the first place. Just in case he did something wrong, he waited to see what happened next.

She scowled at his silence and roughly grabbed his left wrist. "Explain this."

He let a small grimace slip across his face at her rough treatment (now that was a strong woman if he ever saw one), before he cleared his throat. "Well," he started. "For one, it's the first time I'm seeing something like this, so I can't exactly explain what it is," he continued truthfully.

"You're lying!" She grabbed his arms violently before she was thankfully pushed away by the other woman.

"We need him, Cassandra," the red-haired said. Oh, great. What did they need him for? He doubted they even knew who he was since if they did they would not have acted like they did, not that the lack of reverent looks was not refreshing.

He sighed. "Would you mind explaining to me what's going on?"

"Do you remember what happened?" the red-haired woman asked him instead, completely ignoring his question. Rude.

He opened his mouth to tell her that no, he in fact had no idea what was going and neither what they expected of him when a sudden blurry memory popped into his mind and he stilled. With a frown he tried to grab onto this memory teasing him at the edge of his mind. He had never been good at Occulmency but even he would notice the gaping holes in his memories. He still grasped what he could and came up with something that rendered him even more confused.

"Er," he started. "I was some place dark or was it green? I'm not too sure. There were some… creatures of some kind chasing me and – " Here he paused in utter bewilderment. "A woman…?"

"A woman?" The two women shared a look with some hidden meaning that Harry could not make out before the armoured woman, Cassandra addressed her companion.

"Go to the forward camp, Leliana," she told the other. "I will take him to the rift." Well, Harry could not be even more confused than already was. With one last backwards glance at him, Leliana left through the door.

As Cassandra came to him and unlocked the manacles around his wrists, tying his hands together with a thick rope, he asked, "What _is_ going on out there?"

"It… would be easier to show you," she replied a note of hesitation in her voice. Harry followed her out of the dungeons, appearing in a large room lit by candles confirming his suspicions of this place being stuck in a time far less developed technologically than his original world. The soldier opened large door for them and Harry followed Cassandra out where the first thing he could see was snow and could feel was the cold wind.

And then he saw it.

It was gigantic and monstrous in appearance, seeming like a seething, blistering wound in the sky; it was a large hole in the sky through which he could almost make out another world. The magic coming from the hole was angry and unstable; it was the 'thing' he had felt before, the thing that the glowing mark on his hand was somehow linked to.

"There is a hole in the sky," he could not help but state, voice ringing with disbelief. " _Why_ is there a bloody _hole_ in the _sky_?"

"We call this the Breach," Cassandra explained, turning to regard Harry with a critical eye that he did not notice, too caught up with the whole hole-in-the-sky issue. "It is a massive rift into the world of demons that grows larger with each passing hour. It's not the only such rift, just the largest. All were caused by the explosion at the Conclave. Unless we act the Breach may swallow the world."

Harry grimaced at that. He had already theorised this outcome and hearing this coming from this young mortal woman and feeling all these other lives around him was even worse than he had expected. True, he usually dealt with the dead and the matters of the dead, being the Master of Death and ultimate ruler of the Underworld and all, but he himself had been born mortal and fought a mortal war; he had had mortal worries and had lived a mortal life. As such he could not help but feel sympathy towards those people's plight. Unless he helped in any way he could they were going to die and die horribly at that. The fact that it would prevent him from a new bulk of massive paperwork for the ending of a whole world had only _little_ influence on his decision. Yep, just a little.

A sudden piercing pain brought him to his knees, breaking him from his thoughts. The mark on his hand flared, making him wince.

"Each time the Breach grows, so does the mark on your hand," Cassandra told him as she knelt in front of his curled up form. "It is killing you," she added though this was the least of his worries; nothing could kill him after all. Well, _technically_ nothing could kill him; his physical body in this world might expire but he would only find himself back home in the Underworld. "It may be the key to stopping this but there isn't much time," she added hastily.

Harry blinked his eyes blearily at her, momentarily stunned by the unexpected pain, before he shot a lopsided, wry smile at her. "Well, what are we waiting for then?"


	2. Chapter One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry discovers that there are people who can suppress magic, finds himself a fascinating beardless dwarf with a pretty wicked crossbow and learns he can seal rifts. Yay.

**Chapter One**

"They have decided your guilt," Cassandra told Harry as they walked through the snowy village, Harry being faced with looks of suspicion, wariness and even fear, looks he had not seen since his own mortal life. Oh, the memories. "The people of Haven mourn our Most Holy Divine Justinia, Head of the Chantry. The Conclave was hers." He stayed silent and listened as Cassandra unwittingly gave him all the information he needed to understand his situation better, though there still remained numerous confusing elements in what she was saying. "It was a chance of peace between Mages and Templars. She brought the leaders together. Now they are dead. We lash out, like the sky, but we must think beyond ourselves like she did. Until the Breach is sealed there will be a trial. I can promise no more. Come, it is not far."

"Humour me, will you," Harry asked Cassandra as he followed her out through the snowy paths. "Pretend I've been living under a rock all my life." While she shot him a bemused look, he continued, "What… is the Chantry? And the Templars?"

"Excuse me?"

"Just humour me, please."

"Essentially, the Chantry is the dominant religious organisation in the world. The Templars are men and women who have the abilities to suppress magic." Cassandra eventually informed him though her perplexed look did not leave her face.

"Oh. Right. Great."

They exited the village and hurried their way to the Breach, following a path of devastation with corpses laying haphazardly everywhere. Harry frowned at the death reeking all over the place, his magic twisting unpleasantly under his skin.

"It's the end of the world!" a man screamed as he and a few others came running from the opposite direction. Harry did not fault him; this surely felt like the coming of an apocalypse. A sudden spike in his left hand took him by surprise and his knees buckled under him, the stinging pain racing up his arm. He gasped as he knelt in the snow, right hand grabbing his wrist tightly with a wince; it had been a long time since he had felt any such pain. Apparently being the Ultimate Overlord had made him soft.

Cassandra helped him back to his feet, patting him comfortingly on the shoulder. "The pulses are coming faster now," she informed him with a note of sympathy.

"So how did I appear in your… er, custody?"

"Our soldiers found you at the temple. They said you… stepped out of a rift and then fell unconscious. They said a woman was behind you."

"A woman?" Harry asked. That might be the woman from his fractured memories. He wondered who it was but he had a feeling he would not even know her anyway.

"Yes. They believe it was Andraste. They say that she delivered you out of the Fade."

Harry would have turned to give her a blank look, not knowing just who Andraste might be, if not for the bridge they were on breaking right from under their feet after something from the hole in the sky crashed into it. He groaned as they slammed on the frozen river under the now broken bridge and dragged himself up. Something fell from the sky in a flurry of green sparks and a dark, slithering creature appeared in front of them. It was frankly hideous.

"Stay behind me," Cassandra ordered him as she charged at the creature with her unsheathed sword and raised shield.

He would have gladly done as she told him if not for the ground bubbling up in front of him and another similar creature melting out of it. He backed away, hand risen as he prepared to unleash his magic at the advancing _thing._ He would have preferred to keep his magic hidden for the time being, wary of how those people would react to it particularly since he had learned that there were actually people who could _suppress_ magic.

Then at the corner of his eye he found a sword. How very… convenient. Not one to take at gift horse in the mouth, Harry threw himself at the sword and in one swift move he lobbed off the head of the creature in front of him. Sword fighting was not his best fighting style but after he had handled Gryffindor's sword more than once in his lifetime, and non-lifetime, he had learned enough to be a passable fighter. His reflexes and skills he had learned by fighting with his magic also helped quite a lot. So his quick decimation of the creature was no surprise to him and as the rest of the thing melted into a black goo, he turned just in time to see Cassandra finishing off with the first slithering creature with one powerful thrust of her sword in its chest.

He took a step to approach her only to find the tip of her sword pointed at his neck.

"Drop your weapon," she snarled. "Now!"

He stared at her incredulously. Was that woman actually serious? Did she expect walking through this chaos without any backup and a weaponless and vulnerable – not really but she would not really know that – stranger and come out of it still alive? She had to be one crazy woman and as much as he would want to tell her that to her face, he decided not to antagonize her and just humour her. He held up his arms and let the sword fall from his hold in a show of submission.

"If that's what you wish," he told her though he did not try hard to hide his disapproving thoughts from showing on his face.

"Wait!" she exclaimed and then sighed, sheathing back her sword and dropping her defensive stance. "I cannot ensure your protection on our journey. It would be best for you to keep your weapon. I should remember that you came willingly." She looked as if she had swallowed something extremely sour as she said this and Harry could not help the bubble of amusement that rose in his throat. Thankfully, he did not show it; from the little he knew of the woman, he did not think Cassandra would appreciate being at the end of his amusement.

Without further ado, they continued on their way, meeting more of those ugly, slithering creatures and green, translucent, floating creatures on their path. Cassandra called the slithering creatures 'shades' and the green floating things 'wisps'. According to her they were demons. Well, Harry knew demons and those things were definitely not. If he had a guess, he would say they were just creatures from another world, most likely from one close enough to this one that they are able to interact with this world. It was not exactly something new after all to have different worlds so close that they almost overlapped each other. _How_ they would interact with each other though differed from world to world. Sometimes, some of those creatures get adverse effects when they interact with other worlds and might lead them to change in their natures. Other times their interactions had no effect on each other. In this case, he had a feeling it was the former option.

It was not long before they started to hear the sounds of fighting and they immediately hurried forward to offer their help to whoever was fighting. There were more of those demons but what caught Harry's attention was the literal hole floating in front of him and spewing out more of those foul creatures. He stared for a moment, unable to stop himself in his surprise, before he was able to shake himself and jump in the fray right after Cassandra. The sword he had picked up was not ideal or the best, definitely nothing like Griffindor's Sword; well, that was to be expected since it had not been goblin-made after all. However, despite his lack of a decent weapon and his self-imposed handicap in not using his magic, it was not long before the demons were all down.

He did not even have the time to release a relieved sigh before his hand was suddenly grabbed by one of the strangers who had been fighting alongside them and thrust towards the floating hole between the worlds. The man was the one who had been using magic – finally something familiar – with a staff of all things. Seriously, were those things not cumbersome?

"Quick! Before more come through!" the bald man said. Harry let out an inelegant squawk as he felt magic from the stranger guiding the magic from the mark on his hand to the hole and, before his eyes, said hole closed with a resounding snap and slight magic backlash that pushed him back a step.

Harry cursed loudly, shaking his stinging hand before turning bewildered eyes towards the man in front of him, "What did you do?" Now that he could actually look at the man he realised that the other might not actually be a man at all; oh, he was of the male gender alright but not of the race of man. Those pointy ears of his made sure of that fact. How Harry had not noticed them was beyond him but he _had been_ quite preoccupied with those demon things. The other was dressed in shabby clothes and was bare-footed of all things in this snow. Yeah, those people might just be a little barmy.

"I did nothing," the other replied. "The credit is yours."

Harry blinked and then stared at the glowing mark on his hand. "Huh, so this thing might actually come in handy pretty easily." And then he snickered at his own pun.

"Whatever magic opened the Breach in the sky also placed that mark upon you hand. I theorised the mark might be able to close the rift and it seems I was correct," the man explained, some degree of smugness slipping into his voice.

"Meaning it could close the Breach itself?" Cassandra was quick to ask, coming forward to stand beside Harry.

"Possibly," the man replied. "It seems you hold the key to our salvation." Aaand Harry's good mood dropped. Did he have to put it that way? He had already done the whole saving-the-world thing and he really did not want to do it all over again. Yet, he also did not want having to face leaving a whole world to its destruction while knowing he could have done something to help these poor people.

"Good to know," another voice said nearby. "Here I thought we'd be ass-deep in demons forever." Turning around, Harry found himself facing one of the most curious creatures he had ever seen, and that was saying something coming from the literal emperor of the Underworld. It was a dwarf; now, there was nothing abnormal with a dwarf, he had seen many dwarves in his time. What surprised him was the fact that this particular dwarf was _beardless_. Sure, he was a very attractive dwarf but still, _beardless_! The funny dwarf walked up to their little group of three. "Varric Tethras, rogue, story-teller and occasionally unwelcomed tag-along." He ended with a wink at Cassandra who let out a disgusted grunt. Harry raised an amused eyebrow; there was a story in there somewhere that might just prove to be interesting.

"Pleasure meeting you," Harry greeted automatically. And then he noticed the curious crossbow on the dwarf's back, a crossbow that seemed to be far more advanced than this world's time. So _maybe_ this world was not so backwards after all if they could make something like that.

"You may reconsider that stance, in time," the bald man added with a slight note of amusement.

"Aw, I'm sure we'll become great friends in the valley, Chuckles," Varric, the dwarf replied immediately. Yep, this group was going to be a really interesting one. At least his stay in this world might prove to be interesting.

After a brief altercation between Cassandra and Varric where Cassandra refused to have the dwarf with them and then Varric talking sense into her with the fact that his help might come in handy against enemies, the other stranger introduced himself as Solas and the four of them continued on their way. They met more demons on their way and they quickly fell into such a formation that they would not impede on anyone's fighting ground.

"Where are you from exactly?" Varric asked after they had finished fighting another group of demons. "I don't think I have ever heard your accent before."

"Er… far," Harry replied nervously. How was he going to keep the truth from them? He had no idea of the geography of this world or even of its history and people. He knew that sooner or later the truth would come out and he really did not want to face the backlash of _that_.

"How far?"

"Very far."

"…Right."

It was not long before they reached the forward camp. That world was truly facing devastation and destruction, Harry thought, with all the death and desperation clogging the air. Death had never really bothered him, much less after he had accepted his role as Master of Death. However, seeing and feeling all this death permeating the area, Harry could not help but feel both sympathy and pity for these people.

Before they could enter the forward camp they had to fight another set of demons and seal one of those rifts. While the other three took care of the shade, Harry hurried along to help the two archers keeping guard near the closed door leading to the camp. It was not long before the demons were defeated and the rift was sealed.

"The rift is sealed. Open the gates!" Cassandra ordered.

"Right along, Lady Cassandra."

The forward camp was bustling with activity but was also overwhelmed by the clogging scent of death much like everywhere else Harry had stepped foot since entering this world. They replenished their healing potions from a cache nearby before making their way to Leliana and another man in white and red robes, who were discussion loudly.

"There he is!" the unknown man exclaimed loudly as their little party of four reached them. "I order you to chain him. He is to be taken to Val Royeaux immediately."

"You order me!?" Cassandra asked with indignation.

As they dissolved into senseless bickering, Harry zoned out. What he could gather was that the man was certain of his culpability in the death of this 'Divine' they kept talking about and he wanted Harry to be tried. Apparently the Breach, while alarming, was second only to his own sense of justice. Or what he believed to be justice anyway since Harry was pretty sure he was not the one who had caused the whole hole in the sky thing. Though if he were to be truthful, he might have some doubt about that too. He had no idea how he had ended up in this world after all and for all he knew he might actually be the one who had caused the explosion and all this death. Maybe all of this was cause by his untimely arrival. His memories were conspicuously, viciously and glaringly absent after all.

"Where do _you_ think we should go?" Cassandra asked him, breaking him from his thoughts.

"Er, what?" he blinked. Cassandra gave him an annoyed look at his inattention but before she could speak up, Solas interrupted.

"She is asking if you think we should take the mountain path or just charge in," he informed Harry.

"You're asking _me_?"

" _You_ have the mark."

"Oh."

And after a quick discussion about where they should go, off they went to charge in with the soldiers. Harry was never one for _not_ charging in headfirst in a problem anyway. Hopefully, this would not get them killed.

Who was he kidding? He was _Harry Potter_ ; anything could get them killed while he was in their company.


	3. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and his ragtag team arrive at the Temple. He finds that he has in fact not been the one to tear a hole in the sky (quite an accomplishment for him), fights an ugly demon-thing, angers a truly terrifying woman... and has a chat with his wayward not-child. Stupid paperwork.

**Chapter Two**

They arrived at the Temple, the scent of death becoming even more prominent the more they advanced. His senses as the Master of Death tingled at the back of his mind and he felt the fear, pain and confusion of the poor souls that had lost their lives in that location. Besides that, he also felt the undercurrent of power deep underground; whatever this place had once been, a great amount of magic had been at work there and long enough for it to permeate the area. There was also something corrupt not far that made Harry's nose twitch in disgust and left a bad taste in the back of his throat.

Bodies were everywhere, some unrecognisable and others, broken husks in different reflections of the pain they had endured. And those were only those that he could see; he felt much more death permeating the area, telling him that remains of even more people who had been at this Conclave were no more but ash and dust.

"This is where the soldiers said they found you," Cassandra told him, her voice hushed and strained. Their other two companions were silent but the enormity of their situation bore down on all of them equally.

They reached a section of the temple where they could see the Breach better and as one, they followed the green up and up and up to the giant hole in the sky.

"That's a long way up," Varric commented, saying what was on all their minds. From where they were the Breach seemed even more daunting.

Behind them footsteps were heard before Leliana appeared with a contingent of soldiers. She looked relieved at their appearance before Cassandra, Solas and her started to discuss their next plan of action. Varric remained beside Harry, for once silent as they both continued to watch the Breach. However, while Harry had no idea what could be going on in the beardless dwarf's mind, Harry was more preoccupied with the scent of Death and the tingling feeling at the back of his mind; this was where he had appeared, and whatever the reason, Death was behind all this. His supposed servant's power was like a beacon to Harry and now, though he doubted he was behind the whole explosion, he had no doubt that he appearance in this world was because of Death.

"Let us move," Cassandra told him, breaking him from his thoughts. "We should find a way down." The four of them moved and tried to pick their way through the rubble to find their way down and closer to where the rift was. As they walked they passed by huge pillars of red crystals that made the hairs on Harry's arms rise and Varric unusually worried and cautious. Whatever that thing was it was apparently not normal for even the inhabitants of this world and enough for Harry to wholeheartedly follow the dwarf's advice of 'not touching it'.

" _Now is the hour of our victory,"_ a resounding voice took them by surprise as it swept through the temple. Harry's hand reached towards his sword and he even saw the other three react in the same manner.

"Who is that?" Cassandra asked suspiciously, her eyes darting around.

"At a guess, the one who is behind the Breach," Solas replied as they continued on their way, though this time with more urgency in their steps.

" _Keep the sacrifice still,"_ the voice continued.

"Is that normal?" Harry asked.

"The veil is thin. This must be a memory or reflection of what has happened," Solas explained simply for Harry's sake since he had told them on the way that he _might or might not_ be too familiar with the Veil and the Fade and whatever was related to the two – to say this raised questions and many eyebrows was an understatement.

" _Someone! Help me!"_ another voice called out, this time female. In front of Harry, Cassandra froze before she rushed forward, jumping from the ledge to drop to the last level.

"That's Divine Justinia!" she cried.

" _What do you think you're doing to that woman!?"_

Harry jerked to a stop, surprised as he recognised his own voice resounding throughout the temple. Cassandra whirled around to him and opened her mouth, most likely to question him again when light broke out from the centre of the temple and large shadows and images were suddenly projected in front of them.

Harry gawked at the large holographic images that appeared, his eyes falling in the large shadowed figure that seemed more menacing and threatening than the old woman dressed in red and white suspended in the air. He could not see any defining features from the figure, as if its characteristics had been deliberately hidden from them.

" _Keep the sacrifice still,"_ the figure said again and this time the voice could be associated to an image.

" _Someone! Help me!"_ the woman cried again. Harry, his three companions and everyone else who had come to the temple could not help but stare, transfixed and horrified at what was happening in front of them. At least, this time they got an idea of what had truly happened at the Conclave but what they saw could only alarm them even more.

The scene in front of them continued until, to their collective stupefaction, a rift appeared in front of the two figures. However, instead of being green like the other rifts they had encountered, this one was white, and out fell a very familiar figure. It was Harry who fell head over heels in front of the two figures, the rift immediately closing behind him even as he cursed up a storm and pushed himself up. The other two seemed just as shocked and surprised at his appearance as their audience.

The Harry of the vision stood up and looked around, an annoyed expression on his face that quickly turned mildly surprised but still remained more irritated than anything.

" _Great. Where am I_ now _?"_ he asked no one in particular as his eyes fell in the shadowed figure before he caught sight of the hovering woman not far from him. The surprise on his face seemed more genuine as much as the alarm that overtook his features. _"What do you think you're doing to that woman!?"_ he cried as he took a step forward but before he could do anything more the shadowed figure spoke up.

" _We have an intruder. Kill him."_

" _Run! Warm them!"_ the woman cried out to him immediately instead.

That was when the images disappeared, an eerie silence taking over the temple as everyone tried to understand what they had seen. Then, almost as one, they turned to Harry who could only take a step back as Cassandra grabbed him by the collar and shook him.

"You were there!" she accused. "What happened? The Divine, she called out to you but – "

"Look, I don't know!" Harry told her as he broke free from her hold and took another step back. "I'm as much confused as you are, okay? I _told_ you I don't remember!"

"Well, that was enlightening," Varric commented as his hand itched towards his crossbow.

"It matters not," Solas said a slight frown on his face. "Seeker, we need to focus on the Breach for now. Anything else should come after."

Cassandra visibly took a calming breath before she turned swiftly towards Leliana. As they discussed what should be done, Varric sidled up to him.

"So, you really don't know what this was all about?" he asked Harry casually, his hand fiddling with a leather strap on his crossbow.

"No clue," Harry replied swiftly. This was not completely true, however. He had recognised the white portal he had come through; it was what appeared if he decided to visit a world, though he had never really cared to try it. It was a doorway from the Underworld and this one had clearly reeked of Death; unlike his companions he had been able to see the subtle black tendrils of Death's magic around the portal which confirmed his suspicions that what had brought him in this world was in fact the being known as Death and his supposed servant.

He was going to get an earful when Harry saw Him next.

It was not long before the soldier were organised and evenly spread through the temple as Solas explained to Harry what was expected of him. He was to use the mark on his hand to open the rift in front of them before they could attempt to close the Breach since the rift was the first to appear and closing it would help in closing the Breach. It was not going to be too difficult; all he had to do was the same thing he did when closing rifts except in reverse. However, this would also attract attention from the other side and thus why they were preparing for anything coming through when it opened.

With that in mind, Harry waited until everyone was in position and for Cassandra's signal before, with his sword held in one hand, he thrust his other hand with the mark to the rift, and _pulled_ until it opened. Solas had been right when he had said to expect anything from the other side; what came out was a giant menacing creature that let out a roar and a particularly evil laugh. Voldemort should have totally learned from that thing. It was a very impressive laugh.

"Pride demon!" someone yelled from behind him as archers fired. The arrows bounced harmlessly from its hide and an electrical whip slashed through the air.

Great, Harry thought as he jumped into the fray, sword swinging while spells flew over him, arrows were fired and shields were bashed. Nothing, however, seemed to make any difference as the creature, the Pride demon, lumbered around, throwing its electric whip around and swinging its large arm.

"We need to strip its defences!" Cassandra yelled but that was hardly any help. _How_ would they do that? Nothing seemed to work against the creature and their soldiers fell like flies. Harry gritted his teeth, feeling like sooner or later he would have no other choice but to start using his magic. He could _not_ just let those people die for nothing while he could do anything about it.

He yelled as he jumped in front of an archer as the demon swung its arm at him, blocking the attack with his sword. His knees buckled under the force but he tried to hold through until the others came to his aid and pulled the creature's attention away. Unfortunately the subpar sword was at the end of its rope before they could help as it broke in his grip, the metal carving under the force of the blow. Quickly, Harry rolled away and narrowly dodged the next blow from the demon.

With no more option in his hand, Harry gritted his teeth and threw his arm at the approaching Pride demon. His magic pulsed before, in an explosion of power that seemed strangely enough _less_ than he was used to, rope flew from the ground and latched onto the creature. The demon let out a scream of rage as it was suddenly restrained and pulled towards the ground to keep it immobile.

His eyes swept across the makeshift battlefield to see the others, soldiers and his companions alike, staring at him in shock. "Come on! Don't just stand there!" he called out to them. The look Cassandra shot at him made him apprehensive about what the female warrior had on her mind, even as she lunged forward and rammed her sword into the demon's neck. It let out an agonizing shriek before disintegrating, green wisps flying back to the rift. Harry loosened his magic and stood up from where he was kneeling but before he could do anything more, he found a very familiar sword being held by a very familiar woman pointing at his neck.

" _You_ ," she hissed menacingly, her eyes glaring threateningly into his, "have a lot of explaining to do."

"Seeker, I do not believe now is the time," Solas called as he approached warily. "We should close the Breach before more come through."

Cassandra let out a disgusted growl before she sheathed her sword, grabbed Harry by his collar and dragged him to the rift. He did not protest, as much as he wanted to, as he really did not fancy having a sword in his entrails. She pushed him forward until he stood in front of the rift. With a wary look at the woman, Harry thrust his hand bearing the mark at the rift… and everything went black.

* * *

When he woke up… he was not too sure he was actually awake. The world was blurry around him and he recognised the room he was in as the room that held the portal to the worlds back in the Underworld. The room was larger than the Great Hall back at Hogwarts and the walls, the ceiling and the floor appeared to reflect the same starry sky he had always seen which gave the impression of standing in space. The fact that he woke up standing was not what told him that he was sleeping still since if he had gone back home to the Underworld, he would have appeared in that very same room, standing too. What clued him in was the being standing in front of him as if He had been waiting for him.

Death was just like he remembered Him as, a tall lanky figure, cloaked in heavy, dark robes, shadows licking at the trailing hems, and a hood pulled up, hiding the naked white skull with no defining features. Seeing Death should not be too out of the ordinary, but seeing Death _and_ feeling the naked mischief surrounding the being was. The world around them rippled.

" **Master,"** the being greeted as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

Harry scowled and crossed his arms, annoyed. " _What_ have you done?"

Death glided to him, a long, bony finger reaching up to caress one pale cheek. Harry let Him, reluctantly basking in the familiar gesture even as he glared at his supposed servant; he felt like a parent just waiting for whatever chaos his wayward child had decided to unleash.

When Death finally decided to explain what was going on, Harry felt the headache of a lifetime coming. Oh, come on! Why him?

Stupid Death.

Stupid past him who got himself in that mess.

Stupid Thedas.

… _Stupid paperwork_.


	4. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry tries to bullshit his way out of trouble (keyword, tries!), gains a healthy fear of mortal women, has a delightful conversation with the beardless dwarf aannnd... the Inquisition is reborn!

When he woke up, actually woke up this time around, it was to a warm wooden cabin and a massive headache the size of the Underworld. Not only was he thoroughly annoyed at his supposed servant's actions but also at himself because apparently he was the one who had gotten himself in this mess in the first place. According to Death, the day he had appeared in this world known as Thedas, he had been trying to run away from his paperwork and by doing this he had gone to the portal room to find a world for his self-imposed vacation. However, Death had found him and instead had sent him to this world to take care of this mess.

Apparently some crazy person was trying to take over the world by using powerful magic and the backlash of that happening would result in a massive amount of paperwork. Not only would the Underworld obtain a large amount of new residents but two worlds would be destroyed and Harry would have to stabilise the Universe. He really hated when worlds ended as it usually took _decades_ before the Universe would be stable again and his work would be tripled for _years_.

That was why Death had sent Harry to Thedas; so that he would prevent the end of those worlds. Oh, he could leave and just go back to the Underworld but then he would have even more work on his hand and he would have to abandon those poor unfortunate people who had no say in this at all. And _of course_ Death had to be an ass and lock away more than half of his magic away so that this would be a lesson for him about _shirking his duties_.

Sometimes, he really hated his life, or non-life. Whatever.

The door of the cabin opened and a young woman with similar pointy ears to Solas' entered, carrying a small wooden box in her hand. Seeing Harry awake and sitting on the bed, she let out a startled cry, eyes as wide as saucers, before literally throwing herself to the floor as she knelt down and bowed to him.

Harry stared a moment, stunned, even as he vaguely registered the woman apologising to him. He had never thought he would face something like this outside of the Underworld; usually people acted like this towards him only if they knew who he really was and there was no way that woman knew. Hopefully, no one else would be like this since he had found it quite refreshing to have people around him being anything but simpering, worshiping idiots.

"Er, it's fine," he hurriedly told the woman and she thankfully picked herself up from the floor. Really, even after centuries of the same thing happening every day of his non-life he was not used to people bowing to him and acting like he was some kind of god, which he surprisingly _actually_ was but, _details_. "Where are we?"

"You are back at Haven, my Lord," she replied, fidgeting from where she stood and she did not even look him into the eyes but kept staring at the floor.

Harry sighed. "What happened?"

"They said you saved Haven, that you stopped the demons from coming from the Breach."

"Then the Breach is still out there?" he frowned. At her confirmation, he sighed. "What now?" he murmured to himself.

"Seeker Pentaghast said to meet her at the Chantry," the young woman informed him. "At once, she said." And then she fled from the cabin, leaving Harry blinking after her in stupefaction. He was not really that scary, was he? Honestly, mortals these days. Completely barmy.

He stood up from the bed and then he froze. Where the hell was the Chantry?

* * *

It took him a while but Harry finally managed to find his way through the small village of Haven and to the Chantry. It was really disconcerting to find those same people who not long before had been thirsting for his blood to look at him as if he was their prophesised saviour. That brought back so many memories from his life as simply Harry Potter – not that Harry Potter had ever been simple either but whatever. He felt really nostalgic all of a sudden.

Either way, it was a very disgruntled Harry who found his way marching inside the large building he had been imprisoned in when he had woken up in that world and to the door opposite the entrance. Voices could be heard from the other side; he recognised Cassandra, Leliana and even that man from the forward camp who had been adamant about his guilt and it would seem he was still prattling about the same nonsense. Harry was too annoyed with finding himself lost in this primitive little village for a whole hour to really care at the moment and before he could think twice about it, he opened the door and entered the room.

"I order you to chain him," came the expected order before Cassandra immediately dismissed the order and the soldiers who had been standing at the door. They saluted and left the room, closing the door behind them. "You are walking a thin line, Seeker," the man said warningly.

Instead of replying, Cassandra casually dropped a large book in the table in front of him, the loud thump sound making the man jump which in turn made a smirk twitch onto Harry's face before he could hide it. Now _that_ was a woman after his own heart. "Do you know what this is, Chancellor?" she asked. She then went on with information that went right over Harry's head since he did not understand the context; he really needed to learn about this world and fast. How the hell was he going to function properly while being confused about everything around him? Honestly, you would think Death would be more accommodating, but nooo.

It was not long before the unlikable man left the room in a huff, leaving Harry with the two women, both of whom stared at him with really scary looks in their eyes.

"You," Leliana said slowly, her eyes narrowing as she rounded the table to stand beside him, "have a lot of explaining to do."

Well, time to bullshit his way out of this mess.

* * *

"So, let me get this straight," Leliana said, her voice being unusually (and creepily) blank, "You hid your magic because you had no idea how we would react."

"Yep. I mean, come on, you guys were accusing me of tearing a bloody _hole_ in the _sky_. You would have killed me without a second thought."

"Then _why_ was Solas unable to detect that you had magic?"

Harry shrugged. "How should I know? Ask him." One of Cassandra's eyebrows twitched ominously.

"At the Temple, we saw that you appeared through a rift. How is that possible?"

"Err, I can't remember anything, remember?"

"I see."

There was a momentary pause as Leliana stared at him blankly and Harry almost let out a nervous laugh. Which he did not since it would be really suspicious.

"Hm. I have a question."

"Yeah?" he asked almost nervously. Those two were really frightening. Particularly for mortals. When they died he was totally going to make them work as his Lieutenants. If they did not kill him first or else he was going to get _nightmares_. Had mortals always been this terrifying?

"Where are you from exactly? What were you doing before the Conclave?"

Harry shifted anxiously. "From… around?"

Leliana raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you telling me or asking me?"

"Telling." He gulped.

"You are a traveler then?"

"…Yep."

"I see." There was another moment of silence. "You may leave now."

"Great. Great conversation we had. Should do this more often! Ladies." With that, he fled from the room.

* * *

… He never said he was great at bullshitting so, shut up.

* * *

Cassandra and Leliana waited until they were certain that the strange young man was long gone and for the last two advisors to enter the war room before they broke the resounding silence. When the young man, barely a child who was most likely still in his teenage years now that they thought about it, had been brought to Haven after the explosion at the Conclave and the opening of the Breach, they had been certain about his guilt just like the other residents of Haven. However, they had not expected this same child to so easily accept to help in closing the Breach. Yet, his willingness to help did not absolve him of any suspicion. In fact he was even more suspicious, particularly after his stunt at the Temple of Sacred Ashes. While Cassandra just wanted to interrogate him until he told them all his secrets and they were certain of his innocence, Leliana insisted that they left him to his secrets.

"However, if he shows himself to be dangerous I shall take care of him personally," she had said after the advisors had argued about what to do with him. While it was true the boy was strange, he was also willing to put his life on the line to help their cause. In fact, he had almost died during their first attempt at closing the Breach. And then there was also the fact that he was apparently the only one capable of closing the rifts in the Fade. If Solas had not been certain that the boy needed to be alive for the mark to function, Cassandra would have insisted on executing him; he was too suspicious not to hold some degree of responsibility after all.

"So?" Commander Cullen asked after Ambassador Montilyet and him had settled into the war room.

"He is lying," Leliana replied easily. "In fact most of what he has told us about himself consist of lies. _But_ ," she added as Cullen frowned and opened his mouth, most likely to question why the boy was allowed to roam free, "I do not think he is a danger to the Inquisition _yet_."

"And what does that mean exactly?" Josephine asked.

"We have seen his innocence at the Temple and he is willing to help," Cassandra begrudgingly said.

"And then there is the matter of his strange magic," Leliana added. "It would be best to keep him close just in case."

"What do you mean, 'strange magic'?" Cullen frowned, his hand unconsciously drifting toward the pommel of his sword.

"The magic he used at the Temple felt nothing like what mages use," Leliana replied.

"And according to Solas, he has not felt that the prisoner even had magic in the first place when he was examining him," Cassandra added.

"Could Solas be lying?" Cullen asked, his mistrust of mages rearing its ugly head. "His appearance _was_ quite unexpected and suspiciously convenient."

" _Or_ the mark was hiding our prisoner's status as a mage and had an unexpected reaction to our prisoner," Leliana interrupted.

"Will he be willing to help still?" Josephine asked.

"At a guess, yes. He seems to be quite the chivalrous type," Leliana commented, remembering how the young boy had jumped in front of one of their soldiers without any hesitation. Without him the man would have been dead by now. And then there was his willingness to help from the very beginning, as shown through the memory they had seen at the Temple.

"That is good," Josephine sighed, relieved. "The people of Haven would… not have reacted positively if he suddenly decides to abandon us."

"Ah, yes. The whole issue about the Herald of Andraste…"

* * *

After Harry left the Chantry he came across the funny dwarf, Varric who called him over to the little fire he had going in front of him. Since he had nothing better to do and the stares he was getting from the rest of the people of Haven was still just as disconcerting as before, Harry approached the dwarf, hoping for some distractions.

"And here comes our hero," Varric said when Harry was close enough. The latter let a grimace grace his face for a moment. "What, you don't like being a hero? I thought at your age everyone wants to be special."

"Oh, sure. I just love having people's lives depending on me," Harry drawled out as he plopped down in front of the fire. "Gives me the warm and fuzzies."

Varric snorted. "So, now that Cassandra is out of ear-shot, I take it you're not taking all this well?"

"Eh, I'll survive," Harry shrugged.

Varric raised an eyebrow at him. "You don't seem too worried."

"Oh, I am. See this face?" he pointed at his blank face with a pale finger. "I'm having one massive internal freak out like never before." This was actually true since Death, the mean, mean, vindictive bastard that He was, thought that, as a good incentive to save this world, had decided that if he failed, his paperwork would quadruple. As if the amount he would gain already was not enough. He felt like crying.

Varric seemed to wince at that. "Don't take everything on you, kid. We're here to help you every step of the way, even our grumpy Lady Seeker. I've seen what happens to one Hero who took in more than he could chew."

Harry blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Ever heard the tale of the Champion?" Varric asked him with a grin.

And that was how Harry found himself dragged off to the tavern where he got warm food, though a bit tasteless, and a good story about a warrior who lost a lot but still tried to save his city. He had a good night and he learned a lot about this new world.

* * *

The next day the rebirth of the Inquisition was announced before Harry was summoned to the war room where he met the Commander of the army and their resident Ambassador. Yeah, everything seemed a teeny, tiny bit more serious than he had thought. A few days later, off he went to the Hinterlands where he was to meet a woman who had been asking to meet him.

Oh, and he discovered why people were staring at him funny! They called him the 'Herald of Andraste', the apparent Bride of the Maker, the one they considered their god.

Aha, they thought he was divinely sent! Which, he _technically_ was but not by the one they thought…

…He was going to have such a laugh if they found out the truth about him. Well, if Cassandra did not try to kill him first. Seriously, that woman was way too ready and eager to skewer him alive. She was one creepy, _barmy_ woman, that one.


	5. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wherein Harry makes stupid decisions, angers a scary Lady Seeker more than is healthy and gets more minions - ahem - companions to add to his merry little party of crazies. Good times.

The Hinterlands would have been a nice vacation spot, Harry thought distantly, if not for the fighting going on and the abundance in death and starving refugees. He was almost sulking as he cut down another of those rogue Templars that they had ambushed in their own camps. Honestly, how could things have escalated so quickly in so little time? One moment he was simply the Master of Death, the Ultimate powerful being in existence, and the next he was apparently the only one with the ability to save an entire world. _And_ he had less than half of his usual power at his disposal. Sometimes he really hated his entire existence, he thought. At least this broke the monotony of having to take care of the Underworld's paperwork. _And_ he got to learn more about this world… through a few misadventures of course.

* * *

( _(Shriek. Jump. "What is that!?"_

" _Er, kid? That's just a_ nug _. Harmless little thing."_

" _Well, it's creepy as hell."_

_Pause. "Did anyone ever tell you, you scream like a girl?"_

" _Shut up, dwarf."_

_Snicker.)_

* * *

_("…Is that a –"_

" _Dragon! RUN!)_

* * *

_("Why is this called 'elfroot'? Doesn't make any sense. Do elves have monotony over it or something? Or maybe it's just people being racists? I mean, I did not hear anything about a humantree or a dwarfflower."_

" _Kid?"_

" _Yeah?"_

" _Shut up."_

" _Shutting up now.")_

* * *

_("Herald? I don't think you should – "_

_Snap._

_GROWL._

"… _crap. Run!"_

…" _What's with the Hinterlands and bears anyway?"_

_Glare._

" _Okay, shutting up now."_

" _Kid, you've got a real talent in annoying the Seeker, don't you?"_

" _So it would seem, Master Tethras."_

" _Oh, shut up, you two.")_

* * *

_("Herald, wait. Watch where you are – "_

_Slip. Snap. Bam. Thunk._

"… _Ow."_

"– _going." Sigh.)_

* * *

_("Is that an actual skull? Okay, creepy.")_

* * *

_("Okay, guys. Back away._ Slowly _."_

_Glare._

" _I forgot, okay!"_

" _How could you forget there was a dragon this way!?")_

* * *

_("Herald, I don't think you should –"_

_Crack. ROAR!_

"… _Oops?"_

_Sigh. "Run.")_ )

* * *

Yep. Good times...

* * *

It had been a little more than a week since they had first stepped foot in the Hinterlands to talk to Mother Giselle. After she had told them to go to Val Royeaux – wherever that was – to talk to the Clerics, Harry and his small party consisting of Cassandra, Varric and Solas had spent the next few days wandering around the area, helping refugees, closing rifts and stopping the crazed mages and Templars. They had already finished with the mages and all they had to do was deal with the Templars before they were to leave back for Haven. Honestly, Harry would have preferred not having to kill either group but they refused to listen to them and preferred attacking them the moment they appeared.

"It is done," Cassandra's voice broke through his thoughts and Harry looked around, confirming that, yes, all the rogue Templars were in fact dead. Not one remained. It was a little sad.

"The refugees will be safer now," Solas added. They spent some additional time looting the bodies for anything useful that the Inquisition could use before making their way back to the closest camp which was the one near the Horsemaster. Thankfully they had already talked to the Horsemaster about providing the Inquisition with horses. They just had to complete a few requests before the man would consider helping them. It was however a good thing that he had generously gifted Harry, only Harry unfortunately, with a horse. It was a good horse, though the only experience Harry had with horse riding was when riding thestrals. And thestrals were waaaay better anyway; they could bloody fly _and_ they were Death's babies. Like Dementors.

That night, the four of them settled in front of a small campfire, a couple of scouts and the Requisition Officer at another small campfire. The binary between the two groups could not be even more obvious and though Harry found it a little disconcerting, he was too tired to do anything about it. Dinner for the day was some kind of tasteless gruel and berries that they had found earlier that day. He really missed the Underworld's cooking. Honestly, he had become spoiled! To think when he had been a child he would have been happy with even having a meal in front of him whether it was tasteless or not. It was that thought and the fact that he really did not want to be rude that prevented the complaint from leaving his mouth. During their next trip though, Harry was so going to be the one cooking. He just had to learn the fauna and flora before he ended up poisoning everyone. Which, come on, was more likely to happen with _him_. That's the problem with being _Harry bloody Potter_.

"So, tell us something about you, Mystery," Varric suddenly said, turning to grin at Harry.

Harry blinked, bemused. "Mystery?"

"Well you are a mystery; we know practically nothing about you except that you are a mage who knows how to handle a sword." Varric continued, giving him a pointed look. Even Cassandra and Solas seemed to tune in on the conversation.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Fine!" he whined. "What do you want to know?"

"Anything you are comfortable to tell."

"I, for one, would like to know where you learned to control magic," Solas interjected. "Your handling of magic is quite… peculiar."

Harry shifted uncomfortably, realising that he might have been a little careless in leaving their questioning so open. He should have been more cautious but he was been tired from the long day and he had not thought before replying. While he had half a thought about being as evasive as he had been from the beginning, he had a feeling that they would not have as much patience with him as they had for much longer. Besides, he knew that he had already annoyed Cassandra enough. At this rate she was going to plunder him with her faithful sword and everyone else would be conveniently too late to stop her.

"Can we… not talk about that?" he asked instead, for once not comfortable with lying to them. He had actually started to _like_ them, mortal or not and he had never been comfortable with lying to those he liked. At Cassandra's scowl, he hastily added, "I promise I'll tell you. One day."

"Fine." Varric agreed easily. "What _can_ you tell us?"

Harry hummed in thought. "Well, I'm seventeen," _I'm eternally seventeen_ "I'm an orphan and have been since I was one" _I also met my parents when I became the Master of Death "_ and, err… I guess I'm good at fighting?" _Since I've been fighting since I was eleven but who was counting…_

The rest of the night was spent in the same vein; he told them meaningless little things about himself that were in fact covering much deeper meanings. In turn the other three also talked about themselves. He learned that Cassandra was in fact royalty but that she had left all of this behind to join the Seekers; Varric had numerous businesses; and Solas knew a lot about the arcane and ancient elves. The last subject actually peeked Harry's interest since apparently elves were immortal once and had been different from the elves seen around Thedas these days. It made Harry curious about how those elves had been; he did not think they were actually immortal since no one could be _truly_ immortal but him and Death. However, they could still have been as close as mortals could ever come to be, meaning long-lived and death claiming them only if their bodies failed.

He made a mental note to talk to Solas about the elves, ancient and otherwise, some more.

* * *

Their small party returned to Haven only to find the mages and the Templars accusing each other about killing the Divine and causing the Conclave explosion. Cullen was in the middle of the whole chaos, trying to stop the fighting before things escaladed and Roderick was causing even more trouble by trying to incite the people of Haven against the Inquisition. Harry almost felt like fleeing back to the Hinterlands; there were still many rifts to close, refugees to help and people to recruit. Heck, there were even bandits conveniently there to assuage the boredom of fighting only demons.

Alas, they could not leave yet. As soon as they arrived, the war council was summoned and they spent the rest of the day to discuss their next actions. Thankfully, they broke off after dinner, after the third time Harry had been caught yawning.

"We leave tomorrow at dawn," Cassandra reminded him as he left the war room. He nodded back at her and quickly made his way out of the chantry to his own little cabin where he collapsed on the bed and fell asleep the moment he closed his eyes.

Back in the war room, Leliana turned to Cassandra. "What did you find out about him?"

* * *

Val Royeaux was actually quite beautiful though even more extravagant and ostentatious. The people were dressed weirdly, or maybe it was just the masks that made their whole getup weird. Either way, Harry was fascinated by everything and everyone around him. They might not be welcomed there though; there was actually a woman who ran away screaming the moment she saw them. Hilarious. Other people stared at them, glared and muttered amongst themselves.

After the party followed the sounds of hollering, they found a crowd gathered around a platform. It was there that an old woman in the same get-up as Chancellor Roderick proclaimed him a murderer and a heretic, and tried to get the crowd rallied against him, much Harry's own amusement. He was not so amused though when the Templars appeared and one of them thought it would be a good idea to punch the old woman in the face. Sure, she was annoying but seriously! Respect your elders, mortal!

The Templars were not very receptive though, they did not look like they were ready to come and help the Inquisition in closing the Breach any time soon. This did not worry Harry much though; he was more worried about getting the mages to join them instead. The whole thing with the Templars being able to suppress magic freaked him out a little still to be honest and he would rather have to deal with mages instead. Besides he was curious about all the different types of magic this world had to offer; he wondered if he could harness the same magic.

As they made their way to the gates, they were accosted by a messenger who gave him an invitation to a ball of all things where the hosting woman wanted to speak to him. And then they went on a merry chase around Val Royeaux to find the messages in a red clothe that an archer so generously sent their way. It was as they were actually leaving though that Harry was given the opportunity to engage with his getting-the-mages'-help-for-the-Breach problem; an elven mage woman approached them and invited them to discuss the issue in Redcliffe. His companions were sceptical about her motives and to be truthful, Harry was too, but at least they knew the kind of reception they would get with both the Templars and the Mages, and how to approach both group.

By the time they returned to Haven, they had two new companions to add to their party, a very dignified mage woman who frankly, though impressed Harry, gave him the creeps (she seemed just as intimidating as Cassandra and Leliana – it was just his luck he was surrounding himself with intimidating, scary women…), and a tiny elven woman who made no sense when she talked but seemed really fun and was really good with a bow.

So really, Harry was pretty optimistic when they finally returned to Haven; their group was growing and he had the opening he wanted in approaching the mages. Except the advisors were not as pleased. They could not agree on what group they wanted to approach and Harry did not feel like imposing his thoughts really; he was trying to remain the passive member for as long as possible after all. Either way he was sent on even more errands to run for the Inquisition which included closing more rifts, finding more creepy artefacts and battling more bears. At least, by the end of the week they had a grey warden – whatever that was – and a mercenary group joining the Inquisition (their leader looked a lot like a Minotaur which was really fascinating. This world was getting better and better!).

All in all, it was a good, productive start. A little too much work for Harry's tastes but – eh – no one could get everything they wanted.


	6. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry... really really hates Time Magic but dealing with the Malfoy wannabe is at least a little fun. He should really learn to shut up though.

They were again in the Hinterlands, Varric, Cassandra and Solas his current company, when Harry decided to check out the village of Redcliffe. It was not far and this way they would have an idea of how to approach the mages. They were not expecting what greeted them at the gates though. The hovering rift would have been nothing special, really, if not for the fact that _it was bloody unravelling the world_! The others of course did not know that but Harry would not be good at his job as the Master of Death if he was unable to notice something like _that_. The Breach he could take care of – after their first attempt it had gone into some type of dormant state; the threat was still there but it was not actively destroying the binaries between the worlds again – this _thing_ on the other hand…

Yeah, it was a very pissed Harry who finally closed the rift after a few missteps here and there.

"What… was that?" Cassandra spluttered as they finally took a breather. They had all noticed how, during their fight, they seemed to slow unnaturally or move too fast to be normal. It had been difficult not to get wounded unnecessarily until they noticed that this happened only in certain places. Either way this was definitely not normal.

"That," hissed Harry, uncharacteristically serious for once, "is a problem we need to take care of." The others shot him startled looks but it was the least of his problem. It was only after he had sealed the rift that he had realised what had been the problem with it beside the obvious; someone was messing with Time Magic, _unstable_ Time Magic that fuelled itself with the power of the world beyond the rifts. Whoever was doing this had no idea what they were dealing with and it was destroying the worlds as they were. If that unknown idiot still continued, all of Harry's efforts since he had ended up in Thedas would be for nothing and the worlds would be destroyed.

"Maker, have mercy!" the guard who had fled when they had appeared came back, calling. "It's over. Open the gates!"

"You alright there, Mystery?" Varric asked him as the gates lifted open and the small party of four made their way inside, nodding to the guard.

"Peachy." Harry deadpanned.

An Inquisition scout approached them as they finally entered, looking particularly anxious. "We've spread word the Inquisition was coming, but you should know that no one here was expecting us," he explained.

"No one?" Cassandra asked, taking control of the conversation. "Not even Grand Enchanter Fiona?"

"If she was, she hasn't told anyone," the scout shrugged helplessly. "We've arranged use of the Tavern for the negotiations."

"Agents of the Inquisition, my apologies!" another man interrupted. He was an elf, if his pointy ears were anything to go by, and dressed in robes. He approached them at a run, stopping a little away from them. "Magister Alexius is in charge now, but hasn't yet arrived. He's expected shortly." He turned to Harry, despite the fact that Cassandra was clearly in charge at the moment. "You can speak with the former Grand Enchanter in the meantime." His gaze lingered on Harry's face before he finally departed. The Inquisition scout nodded at them and also left, leaving the four in uneasy silence.

"Why," Harry started slowly, "do I have the feeling that a Magister being in charge of the mages is not good news? And what is a Magister?"

"You would be right," Cassandra said, her eyes narrowing as her eyes fixed where the mage had been. "Magisters come from Tevinter where magic is not controlled as it is here. There are rumours of blood magic and sacrifices being quite common in Tevinter."

"Right, bad news then."

They were much more on their guard as they made their way through Redcliffe. The village was not what Harry had expected. While it was tiny and quaint it was also filled with tension. Mages roamed around and clearly they did not seem to fill the villages with much comfort; though it was funny to see a little old woman scurry away from a couple of mages coming the other way. He had never thought he would see someone walk as fast as Ron at a banquet.

The walk to the tavern was tense among the four of them, Harry being unusually silent and frowny. The other three exchanged uneasy glances but were ready enough to follow him anyway. When they reached the tavern, they were greeted by Fiona and a small group of other mages. She seemed however confused about their arrival, greeting them as if they had never met before. This above everything was what made Harry really uneasy; he had a feeling he already knew what had happened. Time magic was not supposed to be used like this. Ugh, mortals, seriously…

The door opening behind them brought Harry's attention back. Turning around, he found himself facing two men dressed in one of the most ridiculous clothes he had ever seen, and he had seen pretty ridiculous clothes in his time. The older man walked up to them with an expression half-smug and half-arrogant and really he did not like it at all. The fact that the man reminded him of Malfoy senior added to his unease.

"Welcome, my friends! I apologize for not greeting you earlier," he said, voice perfectly polite though he really could not hide the delight in his voice at their unexpected presence.

"Agents of the Inquisition, allow me to introduce Magister Gereon Alexius." Fiona said. The man stopped in front of them and nodded at them, again with perfect poise. Well, Harry could do that do. He knew how to deal with people like them after all his time. After all, he had once been Lord Potter-Black, Man-Who-Conquered. Squirrelly little mortals were nothing compared to him. He was not one to hold court but Harry was a King in his own right.

"The Southern mages are under my command," Alexius said. "And you are the survivor, yes? The one from the fade? Interesting." His eyes never left Harry as they stared fixedly at him. If he had not already known the man was at the root of all the bad things happening around Redcliffe – he reeked of that revolting Time magic – his attitude would have already cued him in.

"I am quite interesting, am I not?" Harry practically purred back, a perfectly fake smile plastering itself on his face as he drew himself straight, hand coming to rest comfortable at his hip as if completely at ease. He knew that though he was quite small he now gave the impression that he was looking down on the man and undermining him. The tightening around Alexius' eyes seemed to mean that it was actually working. "But how about we get to negotiating already, yes?" The man's smile became fixed even more as he motioned towards a nearby table, going to sit before Harry had even started to move. There went his manners; was he trying to say that Harry was so far below him that he did not merit simple courtesy? The… well, _gall_.

Snicker. Honestly, mortals. So puerile. And coming from the eternally seventeen years old Harry, that was something.

This was going to be fun.

"Felix, would you send for a scribe, please?" Alexius addressed the younger man with him who shared enough similar features to him to be family. "Pardon my manners; my son, Felix, friends." Yep.

Felix bowed politely to Harry and his three companions before he turned and left the tavern. Dismissing the young man from his mind, Harry turned back to Alexius who regarded him with poorly hidden hunger in his eyes. Yep, totally creepy. Even Malfoy Senior had not held that level of creepy. Seriously. The man would have more class than that.

Well, what did the world come to if Harry was internally commenting a Malfoy…

"I am not surprised you're here," Alexius said after a moment of the both of them regarding each other with calculating eyes. "Containing the Breach is not a feat that many could even attempt. There is no telling how many mages would be needed for such an endeavour. Ambitious, indeed."

"Yes, well, someone has to do it, no?" Harry leaned back in his own uncomfortable wooded chair – never had he thought he would miss the comfort of the Underworld but here he was, definitely missing his own winged-back chair from his office. He would do without the paperwork though.

"Yes," the man said, his eyes narrowing. "How… _admirable_ that someone so young would care for the world so, don't you think."

"Oh, you _flatter_ me," Harry plastered another fake smile on his face which Alexius replied with a similar smile of his own.

"There will have to be – "

Whatever he was going to say though was interrupted by Felix coming in, looking awfully pale. "Felix?" Alexius' whole demeanour seemed to change as he took in his clearly unwell son. Without thinking, Harry stood up and went to steady the young man when Felix collapsed. Harry automatically reached out and caught him, stumbling back from the larger body and the unexpected weight. His face remained unchanged even as he felt something being discretely passed to his hidden hand. "Felix!" Alexius quickly stood from his chair and went to his son's aid, his face crumbled in worry.

"My Lord, I'm so sorry. Please forgive me," Felix said as he steadied himself. Harry's eyes narrowed; now that he took the moment to examine him, he felt the distinct scent of death clinging to Felix. Clearly the young man did not have long before death claimed him. He actually was really sick and was not just pretending to pass on a secret piece of paper to Harry.

"Are you alright?" Alexius took a hold of his son, practically fussing over him. The man from before had completely disappeared in the face of his son's well-being. Well, maybe Alexius was not a completely rotten man after all if he could care so much for his son. Then again, he was still messing around with bloody _unstable Time magic_. Yeah, Harry was still not other that little detail. Ugh, the paperwork that was going to take if he messed up too much…

"I'm fine, father."

"Come, I'll get your powders," Alexius said as he herded his son towards the door. "Please excuse me, friends. We will have to continue this another time. I shall send word to the Inquisition. We will conclude this business at a later date." With another nod in their direction, he left.

Their little group was left staring at their backs as Fiona followed behind them. Harry waited until they were gone before he unfurled the piece of paper in his hands… and then stared in complete confusion. Yep, he had no idea what was written there. He had completely forgotten that he did not know their written language. Until now he had been able to get by without it but he had a feeling this was going to be a problem on the long run.

"What's this you got there, Mystery?" Turning his hand over, he let his three companions look over at the piece of paper in his hand. "Come to the Chantry. You are in danger." Varric helpfully read though Harry did not know if the dwarf actually knew that Harry could not read their language. Either way he had just helped Harry from being humiliated at his lack of such simple skills.

"They actually expect that we will fall for this obvious trap?" Cassandra scoffed and Harry frowned.

"It might be worth checking out," Varric shrugged.

"I agree," Solas hummed thoughtfully.

Cassandra sighed. "Herald? What would you like to do?"

Harry blinked and looked up at her. "Er. Let's go and see."

As they left the tavern, the frown on Harry's face still unusually present, Varric nudged him lightly to catch his attention. He blinked and looked down at the dwarf in question.

"So, Mystery," he started smoothly. "You seemed pretty comfortable there. Did you do that before?"

Harry blinked. "Do what?"

"Oh, you know, talk a crazy Magister into helping you?"

He snorted. "Yeah, no. But I know how to deal with people like him." He paused and then he snickered to himself, adding, "Back home, people like that you'd find everywhere." His mind though reminded him of a particular prickly blond man with a liking for looking down at him. Well, until he died and realised Harry was literally the master of the Underworld. Ooh, memories.

"So you've dealt with people like that before?"

Snort. "You could say that. One of my – well, not friends, sort of rival or childhood enemy you could say – came from a family like that. Honestly, dealing with him and his father was like dealing with a bunch of peacocks. Hah! As if bloodline and money is everything! Look who won in the end; the half-blood orphan!"

"Half-blood?" Solas' voice broke Harry out of his memories only for him to realise just where he was and he had been saying. Well, crap.

He coughed. "Er – weren't we supposed to go to the Chantry. Oh, look! There we are!"

Not waiting for his companions to reply to him, Harry ran up to the large doors leading to the Chantry. The other three shared a look that was beginning to become a regular thing before they followed their young Herald.

* * *

**Extra 1: How Harry met Sera**

So going around Val Royeaux looking for red scarves was not too bad. Harry had to admit that it might be a little ridiculous though; if whoever was sending them on a wild goose chase wanted to give them a message then an actual, simple message would have been enough. But then he met Sera and he promptly understood that simple and straightforward might have been wishful thinking.

Sera was a tiny elven girl, unfortunately not tinier than Harry; it would seem that the only one smaller than him was Varric and he was a _bloody dwarf_! Ahem, anyway. At first Harry might have been a little annoyed at the girl. She had sent them on a ridiculous hunt around the whole of Val Royeaux, made them wait until night and when they finally found their target, she unceremoniously killed him and now they had no idea why the man had been important in the first place. Or why he had to be killed.

Harry was who he was; he was the Master of Death and no one had seen as much death as him. He was used to it. But at the same time that was the reason why he also valued life. To kill some nobody noble with too much arrogance for his large head just because he was supposed to be interesting for the Inquisition or whatever… yeah, that pissed Harry off quite a bit.

Instead of just killing him, they could have found out what he had been doing exactly that would have interested the Inquisition, found out his motives and a whole lot of over things like if he had been working with someone. But no. Sera went ahead and after leading them there, she killed him. Just like that and it was done.

And then the whole 'no breeches' thing happened and he was left staring incredulously at the girl. Sure, he did pretty crazy things in his time but he did not think he had ever done _that_ level of stupid before.

Well, at least they would not be bored with her around. Right?

A couple of weeks later, Harry could only think, Merlin's saggy balls… Why him?


End file.
